ROANOKE, Va. – For 60 years, Pete’s Deli has been doing more than just serving customers food with a smile.
They were a staple of the Roanoke community. Everyone from the youngest child to the oldest citizen came to Pete’s to get a bite to eat and chat with one of the service staff.
Which is why almost everyone was stunned to find out that Pete’s had served their last customers on Saturday night, March 29th.
“My girls are 19 and 17, and they’ve been coming here since ever they were babies,” Duane Ellis said. “I brought them in their little baby carriers. Just to have those memories gone now kind of stings.”
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A sign on the door read the following:
“For 60 years, Pete’s Deli has enjoyed serving the Roanoke community. The past year we were put on a month-to-month lease and were just informed that another business will be taking occupancy soon and we would need to vacate the space.”
Pete’s used to be located at Crossroads and survived both an earlier closure in 2006 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many customers still came to the front door thinking the business was open. Others thought it was just a rumor that the store was closing.
“We probably came here two or three times a week,” Warren Strickland - who was a regular at the restaurant alongside his wife - said. “We don’t like to cook too much at home, so it was nice to have a place to come to with food that we liked and was reasonably cost.”
Today, ownership held one last meal for their loyal staff members, some whom had been with the restaurant from the very beginning.
Eggs, sausage, cinnamon rolls, and other breakfast goods were given to staff members who the community always remembered for treating people like they had known them for years.
“They did their jobs very well,” Strickland said. “They didn’t mind taking a few moments out even when busy to talk and converse with us and get to know us, and I thought that was wonderful.”
